A BLACK MISTRESS, AN ALTAR AND THEIR IDOLS: TRADE WITH MINA COAST AND OLD SLAVE COAST’S RELIGIOSITY IN PERNAMBUCO, 18TH CENTURY Trade with Mina Coast and Old Slave Coast’s Religiosity in Pernambuco, 18th Century

Abstract

This article discusses a case that occurred in Pernambuco in the second half of the eighteenth century, where Africans from West Africa organized themselves in roças around Recife to dance and celebrate. The case report, written by colonial authorities, shows that the roças contained elements of the religiosity of the Old Slave Cost, and that it’s Voodoo Cult was headed by a woman, identified as a Black Mistress. The reported event allows a glimpse into the repression faced by Africans, enslaved and freed, as well as into aspects of their resistance, inserted in a larger symbolic framework connecting both sides of the Atlantic through the flow and reflow of the Slave Trade.